Work Picking Up Somewhat

After a somewhat slow start, the pace at work is picking up a bit.  Today I had a request in my inbox when I arrived (my manager warned me about it before I left last night, so I was not surprised) that it took me from 8 a.m. to about 2 p.m. to finish.  (However, I was surprised that when my manager sent it out via email, the people receiving it were all very high level, including our Very Biggest Cheese.  I enjoyed seeing the line "compiled by research analyst Sally Porter" in the email.  Yay, I'm doing work!)  I worked on it steadily and the time went very quickly.  By the time I had lunch, the better part of the day was done, and I spent what was left gathering some info and planning the next stage of the project (which involved figuring out what data are available, a harder task than you might think in my organization).  I've also been apprised of a few other projects coming my way this week and next.

I've decided not to write much about my job on this blog except in the very broadest terms, but basically things are good: I am sharing an office with somebody I like (and I think ultimately, it's going to be better and more fun for me than having my own office, even though that's obviously what I would have chosen for myself); the work is interesting and it's in an inherently interesting domain with lots of technical, philosophical, sociological, and political aspects; and with my bad-ass new car, I'm even enjoying my commute (now that I have a route that bypasses the parking lot that is the interstate after work).  The Easter Bunny (i.e., Robert) brought me home a huge iPod this evening so I can load up my music collection to listen to in my car.  I've been listening to the state public radio classical station, which I like, esp. in the evenings, but I think my mornings could use a little more energy and sing-along quality. 

My commute is longer than I would have chosen (it takes me about 25 minutes in the morning and about 40 in the evening) but I find that I am enjoying my time.  I'm really glad I bought the car I really wanted -- I'm spending enough time in the car to make it worth it.  It's great overall, but I am esp. thrilled with the blind-spot detection and the fact that my car has all the oomph it ever needs.  Also, it's so pretty!  I like walking across the parking lot toward it after work.  I'm also happy because my new route home has me going over my very favorite bridge in Snow City, which is both very cool looking and is the route Robert and I took when we first drove into town.  It has this great coming home feel about it somehow that always makes me smile -- and I am almost home (about 5 minutes out) when I reach that point, so I guess that even makes sense in a literal way.

I also finally got a smart phone (which turns out to be identical to the one Tam has), and I'm liking that, too.

Overall verdict so far: 
(1) Work, and the cool material items one can buy with the financial recompense from said work, is two thumbs up.  And yes, it's like a zillion times better than being in my PhD program so far.
(2) I don't always know my preferences very well (e.g., office sharing situation, length of commute) so it's maybe good for me that I don't always get to control my life.